"I wonder how things are going now."
"Heh, beneath tribulation energy, all colors are obscured. Divination and calculation are useless, and a grand array seals the island, making news difficult to convey... but we never needed to know what was happening inside. We need only proceed according to plan."
At that moment, in the waters outside Little Olive Island, a treasure ship over forty zhang long rested on the sea. It bore no insignia of any merchant association or pirates. Only Ma Wanbao could be seen on deck with his concubine Wang Erxi, several Foundation Establishment clan elders from the old powerful families, and the guest elders and attendants maintained by the Myriad Treasures Tower itself. They sat in separate groups, drinking wine and watching dancers as though on a pleasure outing.
Yet the matters they discussed were intimately connected to the situation on the island. Beneath their calm, composed exterior, hidden currents surged.
Ma Wanbao rolled a fist-sized gold ingot in his hand, smiling as though victory lay firmly within his grasp as he encouraged everyone.
"Judging by the present circumstances, what he is undergoing is a thunder tribulation.
"This sort of heavenly tribulation usually descends once every thousand years, specifically striking nonhuman beings taking human form and old creatures that have lived too long. Only through Seeing One's Nature and Understanding the Mind, remaining tranquil and free of striving, can one evade it.
"Some eminent predecessors devised a way of evading it by distancing themselves from the mortal world, seeking to avoid worldly disputes by remaining detached. They called this leaving the world behind. We, on the other hand, live among mortals and struggle through the billowing dust of worldly life. That is entering the world.
"But whether one leaves the world or enters it, when the time